If you’ve seen any of the print relating to our summer programme, then you’ll already know that part of the forthcoming season has been inspired by our new Mark Titchner sculpture ‘Everything Is Real, There Is No Audience’ – go and see it if you want, it’s hanging in the entrance to the Butterworth Hall.
The relationship between artists and audiences (and programmers too) has inspired us to curate a seam of work that puts our audience right at the centre of the drama – literally in some cases!
We begin in a philosophical vein with Guy Dartnell’s Something or Nothing. Guy, an award winning performer often seen with Improbable and Lone Twin, is back with a witty and charming solo creation that asks us whether we are right to think of ourselves as something, when in fact might we might actually be nothing? Put off by philosophy? Don’t be. It’s totally accessible and actually quite cheeky in places too – as you’d expect from Guy. There are a few clips here of the work in an earlier stage of development that might inspire you to come and see the finished show.
Leaving the theatre space altogether we have… Leo Kay’s It’s Like He’s Knocking, which takes place backstage in a makeshift bedsit where you are invited to drink a toast to loved ones as the story unfolds. Described at Edinburgh last year as “A slow-burning, uniquely intimate addition to the interactive theatre phenomenon sweeping this year’s festivals.” **** The List.
And Melanie Wilsons’s every minute, always, is a unique headphones performance for two people that takes place in our cinema! Seated amongst other couples, the experience unfolds for each participant through headphones and in concert with what they see on screen. Don’t worry, you don’t have to be a “couple” couple! In fact Paul is going to be there alone on May 16, so blog back if you want to pair up with him…
A hit at the recent BAC 1 to 1 festival we are delighted to bring the brilliant, fascinating, challenging, revelatory and sometimes controversial Ontroerend Goed back to Warwick. This Belgian group are one of the most exciting contemporary theatre companies around. Game of You is the final part of the company’s trilogy of immersive theatre, in which seven strangers crave to spend some time with you and get under your skin. To get to know you better than they know themselves. This is what Ontroerend Goed do, and they do it brilliantly. It’s not some kind of cringing audience participation, but a chance to get entangled in a complex game with performers that have alarming powers of persuasion… don’t miss it!
We’ve also programmed two shows that showcase the human voice. Back from winning the Loopstation Championships in LA, Shlomo tours the UK with his first one man beat-boxing show Mouthtronica and Joe Bone also does some incredible stuff with his voice as he brings the cult Bane graphic novels to life on stage. Incidentally, I believe a double bill of Bane and Bane 2 recently shown in London means that Joe is currently in the Guinness Book of Records for the most characters performed by one person in a single show.
You can see Shlomo’s trailer here and yes, he REALLY is doing all of that with just his voice. Part awesome beat-boxing gig but also a charming show in which Shlo tells us the story of how he came to be one of the worlds most prolific beat boxers – starting with the simple sound of his father’s clicking worry beads to his adventures with Icelandic pop pixie Bjork.
And last but by no means least our season begins on May 3 with The Summer House. A chance to join Perrier winner Will Adamsdale, Matthew Steer and Neil Haigh as they head off on a Icelandic stag do that they will never forget! If you like Flight of the Concords, Men Behaving Badly, How Not To Live your Life, Campus (which Will is in), The Inbetweeners or Four Lions then this will be right up your street. Watch the hilarious trailer.
This really is a great opportunity to see a range of themed work right at the cutting edge of contemporary performance. But that doesn’t mean it’s scary or inaccessible. Trust us… we’ve seen it all and we’re definitely going again!
We hope to see you there…
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